Jurgen Van Den Broeck and André Greipel lead Lotto-Belisol to the Tour de France

Belgian team hunting success on all fronts in sprints, breaks and the general classification

Lotto-Belisol has named its nine-man line up for the Tour de France, which begins with a prologue in Liège, Belgium, on June 30th. The Belgian team will be built around the overall ambitions of Jurgen Van Den Broeck, who finished fourth in 2010 but crashed out of last year’s race, while German sprinter André Greipel will be looking to capitalise on the sprint form that has already seen him take thirteen victories this year.

“We’ve put our nine names for the Tour on paper,” said the team’s sporting manager Marc Sergeant. “I think I might say we have a balanced and homogeneous selection of riders who already proved the to be ready at the right moment and who can manage on different terrains.

“Obviously we had to make some decisions, but every year that’s the case,” he explained. “Francis De Greef had a good Giro, is very solid and can go a long way in the mountains. After the Giro we decided not enter him at the Dauphiné or Tour of Switzerland, because the preparation would have been too hard. Adam Hansen also proved in the last week of the Giro being to able to climb and being in shape at the right time.”

While Sergeant has the team he wants, there have obviously been some hopefuls that have not made the list this time around.

“The ones who are not selected, obviously are disappointed,” he said. “Frederik Willems wanted to go, but realized that he is not at his best right now. Jurgen Van de Walle has grown in the Dauphiné Libéré and is our reserve. Bart De Clercq had found his climbers’ legs in the Tour of Switzerland, but it’s one year too early for Bart.

“It’s a big advantage that our riders go to the Tour with clear goals,” Sergeant explained. “With our team, and especially with Jurgen Van den Broeck, we aim for the best general ranking possible. Next to that, there are a couple of stages in which Jelle Vanendert can have a go. André Greipel worked his way up to the Tour and supported by Greg Henderson, Jürgen Roelandts and Marcel Sieberg, he gets the great sprinting train who showed its skills during the last weeks. Riders like Roelandts, [Lars] Bak and Hansen also might have a chance in the transit stages.”